


Laundry Day

by ByeByePlatypi (cleverboot)



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, in which Uther was and maybe still is Prime Minister, mentions of past!Merlin/Gwaine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 13:39:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleverboot/pseuds/ByeByePlatypi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which there is mutual laundry folding (or a serious lack thereof), MI5 were apparently huge killjoys, Merlin is a master negotiator, and Arthur had a deprived childhood.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laundry Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written for the Cotton Candy Bingo prompt "park" at one point a long, long time ago. But I forgot about it until now, so alas. Now it's just here. Sooooo... important information about this 'verse (which I kind of like and may play in again at some point) that's pertinent to this particular story is basically just that Uther was - and possibly still is - the Prime Minister. And that growing up with national security agencies doing your babysitting is no fun at all.

“What do you mean you’ve 'never been to an amusement park'?” Merlin demanded, looking absolutely horrified.

Arthur glanced at him and shrugged before going back to folding up his laundry. Really, Merlin was overreacting. As he was prone to doing, if he were being honest. Arthur needed to stop being surprised every time Merlin overreacted to something. It had become something of a hobby of his since he and Arthur had moved in together. “Exactly what I said. I've never been to an amusement park.”

The horrified look was still there. “But, but, but,” Merlin stuttered, apparently having lost his already precarious grasp on coherency due to this revelation of Arthur's. “How - how - how is that even _possible_?”

Arthur just shrugged again and, done with his folding, picked up his laundry basket, turning back to Merlin. “I don’t know. Father always said that MI5 didn’t like the idea because they considered it too high risk. They said that that sort of ground was too open and there was too much potential for attack, too many potential hiding places around and what not.” He frowned at his boyfriend, who was spending far too much time gaping at Arthur and not nearly enough on his own folding. “Honestly, it’s not that big a deal.”

Merlin closed his eyes and shook his head, as though he were somehow hoping that, when he opened them again, the world would have reshaped itself into a place that made _sense_ and didn’t include significant others who had never been to amusement parks. Alas, he found as he opened them. No such luck.

He frowned at Arthur and absentmindedly tossed the rest of his laundry into his basket without bothering to fold it, which made Arthur's left eye twitch in obsessive-compulsive dismay, but Merlin didn’t notice. Or didn’t care. With Merlin, either one would be a safe bet. “So you’ve never, like, ridden a roller coaster before?” he asked, still with that note of disbelief in his voice.

“No,” Arthur replied, eyes fastened on the very-soon-to-be-wrinkled basket of clothes in Merlin’s hands. “You do realize you’ve got three button down shirts and a pair of dress slacks in there, right?” he asked, fighting down an urge to rip the basket away and fold it all himself.

Merlin barely seemed to have heard him. “Hmm?” He glanced at the basket dismissively. “Oh. Yeah. They’re for work.” He looked back at Arthur, an almost pleading look on his face. “What about the Gravitron? A merry-go-round? Please tell me you’ve at least had some of that candy floss where you pay 10 quid for a bag that’s hardly big enough for a handful!”

Still having trouble dragging his eyes away from the defenceless load of clothes in Merlin’s hands, Arthur tried not to physically shudder at the idea that Merlin’s _work clothes_ \- _clothes_ for _work_ \- were in the bundle. He could practically see the creases and wrinkles forming right there. "No," he said. "Why would any sane person pay so much money for junk food?"

Merlin's eyes went comically wide. "Because you're in an amusement park!" he said, as though that made any sense whatsoever as an explanation. "That's what people eat in amusement parks!"

Arthur looked at him as though he'd just suggested they purchase a new pet hippopotamus they could name Mr Binky as a new flat-warming gift to themselves (because, of course, that idea had _never_ been suggested before). "If you are trying to convince me that I missed something amazing and life-affirming by telling me this," Arthur said, "you're doing it wrong. I think you could even take this conversation and use it as a template for a book on how _not_ to convince people of things."

Merlin huffed, visibly offended. "I am _awesome_ at convincing people to do things," he said. "I'm the one who convinced Gwaine to get a real job, wasn't I? _And_ I convinced your father that I'm not a secret terrorist agent using you for my own sexual amusement until I'm ready to enact my ultimate plan for world domination. You know. Eventually."

And at last Arthur was finally distracted from Merlin's wrinkled laundry. "Yes, obviously, you are a genius negotiator of epically unappreciated talent," he said, the sarcasm in his voice thick enough to cut only with very sharp knife. "Bringing up how you bribed your former fuck-buddy-slash-somehow- _still_ -best-friend by withholding sex AND talking about my father and sexual amusement all in the same breath. How do you survive from day to day, being such a master of persuasion, Merlin?"

Merlin just rolled his eyes. "Okay, point one, Gwaine and I prefer the term 'friends with benefits' when referring back to our misguided youth -"

"It was less than _two years ago_!" Arthur spluttered.

"And point two," Merlin continued, ignoring him entirely, "you say it like it's a bad plan, but that sex deprivation thing totally worked, which automatically makes it an excellent plan by default." Arthur sighed.

"I don't want to go to an amusement park, Merlin."

Merlin pouted. "But you would have fun!" he protested.

"No."

His eyes narrowed in a somewhat (but not very) threatening manner. "I am not unwilling to dust off Operation No Sexytimes," he warned.


End file.
